A 300-million-year evolutionary display of biological pyrotechnics
In a groundbreaking study, researchers from Northwestern University, the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, and Michigan State University have discovered that fertilized frog eggs release billions of zinc and manganese ions upon fertilisation. This fascinating finding, published in the journal Nature Chemistry, sheds light on the early chemistry of conception and could have significant implications for our understanding of human development.
The team, led by Thomas O'Halloran, a professor at Michigan State University, and Carole LaBonne, a senior author from Northwestern University, used advanced X-ray and electron microscopy techniques to determine the identity, concentrations, and intracellular distributions of metals both before and after fertilisation. Their findings reveal that fertilised frog eggs eject manganese ions in addition to zinc, and these ejected manganese ions collide with sperm surrounding the fertilised egg, preventing them from entering.
The X-ray analysis quantified the amount of zinc, manganese, and other metals concentrated in small pockets around the outer layer of the eggs. After fertilisation, these pockets release their contents, suggesting a crucial role for these metals in the earliest moments of development.
The Centre for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) at Argonne National Laboratory and the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne, both DOE Office of Science User Facilities, were instrumental in providing resources for complementary transmission electron microscopy and X-ray fluorescence microscopy, respectively.
Carole LaBonne, another senior author on the study, noted that African clawed frogs, or Xenopus laevis, are an ideal system for such studies due to their large eggs that are accessible in large numbers. She also expressed excitement about the discovery of zinc and manganese sparks, suggesting there may be other fundamental signaling roles for these transition metals.
MSU Provost Teresa K. Woodruff, Ph.D., another senior author on the paper, stated that zinc and manganese are critical to the first steps in development after fertilisation. Woodruff, who was a leader of the Northwestern team that discovered zinc sparks five years ago, is now excited to explore whether manganese is released by human eggs when fertilised.
The discovery suggests that the early chemistry of conception has evolutionary roots going back at least 300 million years, to the last common ancestor between frogs and people. This finding underscores the importance of studying these fundamental processes in development, as they may hold the key to understanding the origins of life itself.
The research paper can be accessed using the DOI 10.1038/s41557-021-00705-2. This interdisciplinary study represents a significant step forward in our understanding of the early stages of life and opens up exciting new avenues for further research.
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